ABSTRACT
In June of 2011, a group of 100 former and current Wal-Mart associates visited the company’s headquarters in Bentonville to ask for better treatment at work. Assembled under the name OUR Wal-Mart (Organization United for Respect at Wal-Mart) [https://forrespect.org/], the associates asked to meet with executive management in order to present a “Declaration for Respect,” a list of nine requests that included predictable schedules and affordable healthcare 26 [https://forrespect.org/our-walmart/about-us/]. The group was met by Karen Casey, Senior Vice President of Global Labor Relations, who promised to listen to their concerns and that there would be no retaliation against the group’s members. 27 The following October, several hundred members—along with a variety of supporters, including us—traveled to headquarters once again, and asked to meet with CEO Mike Duke. This trip to Bentonville was part of a twoday conference held in nearby Fayetteville, where members strategized with supporters about how OUR Wal-Mart could both grow as an organization and effect real change in their workplaces.
